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Automation and Testing of Character-Graphic Programs

Published

Author(s)

Don E. Libes

Abstract

This paper describes a technique that allows automation and testing of character graphic programs using existing public-domain tools. Specifically, Tcl, Tk, and Expect are augmented with a terminal emulator in order to build a screen representation in memory. This screen can be queried in a high-level way and the interaction can be further controlled based on the screen representation. One immediate use of this tool is to build a test suite for automating standards conformance of the interactive programs in POSIX 1003.2 (Interactive Shells and Utilities). This technique is portable and inexpensive. All the software described in this paper is free or in the public domain.
Citation
Software - Practice & Experience, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, England
Volume
27:2

Keywords

conformance testing, Expect, interaction automation, POSIX 1003.2, regression testing, Tcl/Tk

Citation

Libes, D. (1997), Automation and Testing of Character-Graphic Programs, Software - Practice & Experience, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, England, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821279 (Accessed April 16, 2024)
Created February 1, 1997, Updated February 17, 2017